


Road Trip!

by Skaiaa



Series: The other side of the screen [5]
Category: Youtube RPF, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Betrayal, Dark in a flowercrown, F/M, Manipulation, Mark doesn't have any idea just what he has signed himself up for, Near Death Experiences, Panic Attacks, Ready for chaos?, Roadtrip from hell, Scheming, Verbal Abuse, hey guys look it's a teen rating not just for language anymore! I've evolved, holy shit one chapter added and i already have to add these tags, someone save him, this is getting progressively less fluffy oh god, this was supposed to be a fluffy fun fic wtf happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-06 08:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13407633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaiaa/pseuds/Skaiaa
Summary: As more time passed, Mark was growing aware this plan was pretty stupid, but he had already set everything up. He would be heading to Florida after the Egos officially were up and moving.No backing out now.





	1. Morning of Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> THEY'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD

They were fast asleep, or charging, when their creator entered their abode. The lights were dimmed and the house itself seemed to be in hibernation, soft snoring coming from the doors and echoing down the halls, a kind of whirring coming from the basement as he walked past it. His footsteps were small and simple as he walked through the halls and headed for their main gaming room, checking the cameras and smiling softly when they focused on him, waving and continuing on his way.

Unlocking the door, Mark walked into the room and shut it after him, shuffling through the equipment in the closet and grabbing a couple of satchels and bags, stretching and rubbing his eyes. He had entered their home in the early morning hours so he could grab what he needed before they all broke the barrier to his own realm. 

It wasn’t that they were rebelling. Nah, they were actually going to be with him, much like during his little skits and whatnot, but it was going to be all of them, and he was gonna be their guardian. As more time passed, Mark was growing aware this plan was pretty stupid, but he had already set everything up. He would be heading to Florida after the Egos officially were up and moving. 

No backing out now.

Shutting the door, satchels and bags in his hands, he turned and headed back out the door, flipping off the light and locking the door again, padding down the hall and heading back to his own realm, leaving the door split so he could come back and forth, Chica wandering in and out with him.

After making sure everything was set up and kissing Amy goodbye, Mark set a text to a group chat of his characters, sitting on the couch in the living room as his Egos rose, some mumbling and going straight for the coffee, a couple peering out of their rooms with messy hair and angry faces, and a small amount just throwing on their clothes and hoisting their prepacked suitcases after them, plopping down on the couch with him.

The Jim Twins grinned at him and Mark smiled, ruffling their messy hair, smoothing it out as he offered to get them something to eat or drink. They just shook their heads and Wilford rolled his eyes, tossing a packet of powdered donuts at the two. Mark barely dodged getting hit in the face by the projectile, yelping and falling backward.

“They’re too excited. Ya need to actually put food in front of’em or they’ll starve.”

Yan snickered as he wandered out of his room, sitting on his loveseat in the corner, backpack by his feet.

Mark picked himself back up and rolled his eyes, rubbing his head from where it collided with the couch cushion rather harshly.

“Alright, everyone all packed up?”

The Jims looked through their stuff before nodding, clipping on a camera tag and a fire tag respectively.

Wilford held up a finger before disappearing and coming back with a suitcase with a little pink gun luggage tag, sipping his coffee.

Yan held up his backpack, having not packed a lot, finding no need to. He didn’t have nearly as much stuff as the others, and they weren’t allowed to actually pack weapons, so it was even less than he formerly wanted to bring.

Dark snapped and his own luggage showed up by his feet in a sleek black suitcase, his name emblazoned in a fancy font on the side.

Bim was sitting on his own suitcase, a plastic microphone attached to the handle.

King was grinning, petting his squirrel, dressed up extremely similarly to Mark, despite the fact he still had his cape. He had a backpack like Yan, which the others had made sure actually had what he needed.

The Host was frowning, leaning against the wall, a bag latched across his torso, filled with everything he needed. He only packed the essentials and knew he was good for the time they’d be gone. No one understood why he was so upset.

Mark raised a brow.

“Hostie boy, you alright?”

“The Host wonders if his creator has accounted for all the possible problems that could arise on this trip.”

Dark sighed, setting his mug down and running a hand down his face.

“He’s right.”

“Oh, shit, that’s right, you’re grey, and Hostie’s face is always bleeding,” Bing remarked, flopping down on a stool at the breakfast bar. He and the Googles had small satchels with their chargers and a change or two of clothes since they’d be in public.

“Well, I mean, Dark’s is easy enough to fix.”

“Yeah, Dames, just look like Mark and you’re good to go.”

“Which Mark?”

“Hmm...Well, you weren’t a fan of the colored hair phase, so not that one,” Mark said quietly, thinking, looking through his phone to see what to do about Host’s problem.

Wilford murmured something and suddenly a set of mugs crashed into the wall next to the front door, shocking Mark as he quickly looked toward the chaos.

“I looked away for two seconds!”

Dark was glowering, glitching as Wilford gazed at his empty hands, opening and closing them as he tried to figure out what he had said wrong.

Mark sighed.

“Dark, bud, you okay?”

“I’m. Fine.”

“...That’s bullshit, but I’m not gonna ask.”

Dark sighed and went to clean up the mess he had made.

“Why not just look like how Mark looks now,” Bim said simply as Mark let out a sigh of frustration.

“Yeah, it’s not like you gotta worry about fans. Disneyland is gonna be over-run with photo replicas of you,” Oliver said, stretching and grinning, bouncing on his heels. Blue rolled his eyes as the other Googles walked in after him, all dressed casually, their normal shirts covered with sweaters so their glowing logos were hidden.

“Shit, dude, we’re gonna break the internet!” Bing exclaimed excitedly after registering what was said, buffering slightly before grinning.

“You can’t actually break the internet,” Blue said boredly, “You’d know that if your browser wasn’t so out of date, Error.”

“Okay, fine, we’ll shut down a server, or twenty. Happy now, you David Downer?”

“Hey, you two, stop fighting. We’re not even in the real realm yet, and you’re already causin’ beef,” Mark remarked, narrowing his eyes as he chided the two.

The two merely scoffed and turned away from each other.

The creator continued searching for a solution to Host’s predicament and eventually found something, although it made him squeamish.

“Hey, Doc?”

Dr. Iplier looked up from his crossword.

“Hmm?”

“Host’s bleeding, can you fix that?”

“Depends, you got an open flame?”

“The Host would like to inform those others in the room that he is not comfortable with this situation, and he could tell that a lot of the others weren’t either.”

“I just need to cauterize the wound, you big baby.”

“The Host resents that statement.”

“Dr. Iplier doesn’t rightfully give a fuck, now stay still, I gotta remove that damn bandage.”

“Oooooh, that bad news doctor is on a quest! Jim, Jim News definitely needs this!”

“Jim, Jim, don’t film Doc cauterizing Host, please,” the creator begged.

“Why not?”

“Nobody needs that in the world,” Wilford replied, laughing a bit, “He’s also chickening out and getting freaked out. Apparently, a gaping bloody hole isn’t his favorite thing in the world.”

“He’s right, you know,” Bim said, laughing a bit as well, watching as Host backed away from Dr. Iplier, backing out of the room completely before turning and fleeing, the doctor hot on his heels, holding a heating instrument in his fist.

“The chase is on!” The Jims shouted, taking off after them with a camera rolling, despite Mark telling them not to.

“JIM!”

*  
Eventually, they were in the real realm, Mark locking the door after them and walking through his bedroom door, the rest following after him.

He breathed a sigh of relief before checking the clock. It was only just now hitting 7 am. If he got their stuff in the van, they’d be all set to go after he grabbed his wallet and car keys.

“Alright, all of you, grab your shit, we’re out of here.”

And, after all crowding into a vehicle Mark rented for this exact journey, they were off. Amy was staying home to watch Chica, and also avoid the absolute slaughter that would happen in that van in the time it took to get to Florida. 

She sent out a text to her boyfriend.

Peebles <3  
‘Good Luck, try not to die.’

She got one back pretty quickly.

Markifart <3  
‘If traffic doesn’t kill me, this arguing will (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻‘

She rolled her eyes, tapping out another reply.

Peebles <3  
‘You poor baby’

Her phone dinged.

Markifart <3  
‘Okay traffic is dwindling, I’ll ttyl ily bby’

Giggling at her phone, the woman rolled her eyes and went back to sleep, inviting Chica into the spot Mark usually was.


	2. Radio Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Button pushing goes too far. Waaaaaaay too far.
> 
> Chapter warning: Mentions of panic attacks, verbal berating, abusive language, aggressive situations, and death/near-death experiences due to car crashes. If that is not your cup of tea, this chapter is not for you, and it'd be best to avoid it

Mark knew he was in trouble within the first hour. After his own playlist playing through, a mixture of music all the Egos could appreciate, they piped up to wanting to play their own tunes, but Dark was the person who officially controlled the radio, which was hilarious since the Androids fought with him over it, literally flipping the dials on the radio and making songs skip and play in reverse while the Demon manipulated it right back into place with little to no problem, having dealt with this before.

Bing got fed up and threw his phone at Dark’s head, having it flung right back at him, smacking him firmly in the face.

Oliver cackled and Blue looked amused.

“Keep that up, and you might actually break his phone.”

“Guys, stop fighting over the radio! Dark, dude, you can’t control it the entire time. There are more people in here than just you. Don’t be greedy,” Mark huffed, focusing on the road as best as he could with King’s pet running over the dash and up and down his arms.

“And someone PLEASE get King’s little buddy away from my fucking arms.”

Dark rolled his eyes, eyes going black before King’s pet scurried back to him, shaking.

The Jims raised brows, looking at each other, chewing on Chex mix like popcorn in a comedic effect as they watched the chaos ensue.

King blinked awake and glared at Dark as his pet chittered at him what had happened. He tossed a nut, a literal nut from a tree (Where the fuck did he get that?), at the Demon, hitting him in the back of his skull.

The demon rolled his eyes and settled back in his set, but not before throwing it right back with a lot of force and welting the fragile Ego’s cheek.

“Oi! I will pull off to the side of the highway until you all stop fighting, I swear to all that is HOLY!”

Bim snickered and Mark narrowed his eyes, turning on his blinker and going to do exactly that before they all quieted down, holding their breath as he put the car in park, turning in his seat to glare at them all, arms crossed over his chest.

He looked like the definition of a tired parent, his hair an absolute mess from him gripping it in tight fists of frustration, bags under his eyes darkening, and a prominent vein protruding from the skin of his forehead.

Dr. Iplier snapped a picture of him and Mark demanded him to delete it.

“No way, I need something to show my patients of what pure stress can do to your body.”

“I wouldn’t be so fucking stressed if you all stopped acting like LEGIT children.”

The Jims giggled, taking a picture as well, and Mark sighed, hitting his head on the headrest of his seat over and over again.

All of the Egos took a picture of that, Wilford taking one for Host to include him, making it a goal to all make it their phone background, staring at it fondly.

Figuring this was getting him nowhere, Mark buckled himself back in and took the car out of park, making sure he was allowed back passage onto the road before starting his journey again.

At least they could relate over his misery.

*  
Eventually, Dark gave up control of the radio and just looked out the window, lost in thought, occasionally texting someone. Everyone figured it was Amy, seeing as he calmed down considerably when doing so.

Amy was good at calming them all down, seeing as they were figments of her Boyfriend, with his mannerisms and what not. They all trusted her pretty well.

Mark dug through his console at a red light and tossed the aux cord back behind him, shutting it.

The Androids ignored it, seeing as they didn’t exactly need the music, and it landed in Dr. Iplier’s lap, startling him.

“Looks like Doc has the reigns,” Wilford said simply.

“Um..”

“The Host believes the Doctor Ego might be, maybe, just a bit too old to understand what this contraption is for.”

“Hey!”

“PFFFFFF- Did you really just get dissed by a narrator,” Bim taunted, mirth twinkling in his eyes.

“The Host also believes the show host is covering his own ass by taunting another, even though he also doesn’t know what this is, despite being on, and having his own show, surrounded by electronics.”

“Excuse me?”

Bing cackled.

“It’s an Aux Cord, you old farts!”

“Aux cord? Okay, Google, what exactly is an AUX cord?” Dr. Iplier chanced, looking toward the Googles, who were checking Mark’s social media since Bim had been posting and tagging nonstop, the command causing them to pause as their systems responded to their admin controls. Being that they all sounded like Mark, all the Egos controlled them as easily as turning on a TV.

“An auxiliary port, or AUX, is the logical name for a standard communications port. AUX is an asynchronous serial port with an interface that allows the auxiliary input of audio signals for: MP3 players,” Blue said simply as the search came up before whisking it away with a wave of his hand and going back to the statistics, doing damage control, grumbling as he was now alone in his endeavor, his others trapped in their interface until another set of questions for each one set them free. Stupid control interface.

“Ansynwhosawhat’s?”

“Were you trying to say Asynchronous? Asynchronous has two definitions, but the one you’d be interested in has to do with electronics,” Green answered, letting out a relieved beep as he was released as well, frowning as he realized Oliver and Red were still standing by.

“Well, can we know the definition?” Wilford asked.

“Which definition would you like?” Oliver said, blinking out of his command mode, looking around, making a face as he shook his head. He hated that mode. It overrode everything. Mark had given them admin controls, but that couldn’t stop their own built-in systems, and once the Egos had figured that out, that was the end of their autonomy.

“The second,” Bim added.

“The second definition of Asynchronous is: Of or requiring a form of computer control timing protocol in which a specific operation begins upon receipt of an indication, or signal, that the preceding operation has been completed.”

Once free, Red groaned, glaring at Dr. Iplier for starting that awful process. They hadn’t been stuck in CommandLock in months, and that’s only because Blue had said it to get them all back on track once and Bing found it hilarious to trap them and then leave a room. At least until he realized they would overheat if their systems were messed with, having come back to all of them collapsed in heaps on the floor, shallow beeping letting him know they needed to charge and that their systems were damaged. 

Bing had hooked them up and took them apart, checking and fixing their systems and installing new cooling systems before putting them back together and maintaining Mark’s social media while they recovered.

He hadn’t done it since, and the Googles didn’t mention it.

*  
“So, it’s just thing you plug in and it plays music you choose?” Weather Jim asked, confused.

“Pretty much,” Bing said.

Mark was highly amused, having had Dark take a video with his phone since he couldn’t himself.

“That was actually kinda precious,” the creator quipped.

“Shut.”  
“The.”  
“Fuck.”  
“Up.”

Mark burst into laughter as the Googles cursed at him.

“So, is no one gonna play music?”

“Hey, it’s not like you made us with this information embedded in us,” Bim said, pouting.

“I..Um, I guess I will?” The Dr said, flipping through his phone before looking for a song.

Once Bing helped him set it up, music filled the car.

Dark banged his head on the dash as he recognized the tune, groaning, annoyed as the song began.

“Really, Doc? That?”

“Yes, and now that I know it annoys you, I’m having it play when you come to the clinic.”

The other Ipliers listened to the song, the Googles searching the lyrics and seeing if they recognized the tune from anywhere, Bing just sitting in silence, puzzled look on his face.

“It’s not that it annoys me,” Dark said through gritted teeth as his shell stirred, the voices in his head waking from the noise, “It’s just having some...Effects.”

“Dames?” Wilford tested, watching the cyan flicker at the name.

“Please, don’t call me Dames right now, please…”

“Why not, Damien, or are you feeling more like a Celine right now” Dr. Iplier taunted. They had all seen WKM after it was released, so they knew Dark’s true names, but only Wilford had permission to use them, an unspoken rule.

“Fuck you!”

“No, Fuck you!”

“Dark, stop picking fights!”

The Demon sputtered, glaring hard, white knuckling his armrest as he glitched in and out of his current form, aura sparking the angrier he got. The color around him was fading into grayscale with violent splashes of red and cyan bouncing around. Wilford moved his seat back from it as pixels of his own pinkened skin turned gray. He whispered to Yan to grab something from the back and the Ego nodded, unbuckling himself and leaning over the seats, going through the suitcases quickly.

“Excuse the fuck out of me!? He started it!”

“I’m ending it! Reign in your aura, and calm down, you’re scaring them!”

“Fuck off! You did this to me!”

Mark had to swerve as Dark’s own aura was beginning to tick at the sides of his vision, glitching the windshield, threatening to crack, or completely shatter it, eyes widening as he realized what could happen if they didn’t calm him down. Dark could get them in a wreck if his aura got far enough out of his control since Mark couldn’t battle it like everyone else. They could legit die. Dark would kill them, and not even know he had done it until it was too late.

“Dark, Dark, please! We’ve been over this, I’m sorry!”

The Demon was in his own world as the music played, on repeat, despite the Dr having turned it off. He was all for bad news, but not when it involved his own well being.

Mark swerved again and almost screamed before gulping and forcing his shaking vision to focus, listening to The Jims try to calm down King, who was actually screaming and clinging to Host, who cradled him, petting his hair as the muse tried to narrate what was going on, stuttering before stopping completely, which scared absolutely everyone in the car. The Host himself was trembling, something he hadn’t done since he was the Author and left to rot on a dirty basement floor.

Host was speechless. He couldn’t see the story play out. Dark had blocked it.

They were fucked.

At that realization, The Jims gave up consoling King and instead clung to each other, screaming as well. Mark swerved again, unable to control the speed as it got faster and faster, only in control of direction as he took his foot completely off the gas, still speeding along. The screaming ringing in his ears as he begged and pleaded for Dark to calm down.

Bim was giggling nervously, clutching at his hair and kicking his feet, breathing quick as he resisted the urge to vomit, skin paling as he had a panic attack.

Dr. Iplier was curled in on himself, rocking back and forth as they barrelled down the highway.

The Quadruplet Androids were panicking, looking at each other as they reached out and took each other’s hands, locking fingers and clicking to each other that it was going to be okay. If Oliver could cry, he’d be sobbing, but he couldn’t, so he just clicked profusely as his fans malfunctioned and his circuits and voice files mimicked hiccupping. Blue felt his servos tighten in fear, something he hadn’t realized he could actually feel. 

Huh, what a great time to figure things out about himself? He was literally gonna shatter to bits, and fate decided it was time to let him know, hey, dude, you can feel fear! How neat is that? 

Bing had fainted, powered down and limp.

Mark slammed the brakes as hard as he could after pushing Dark into the side of the car, watching his head thunk against the window and ruin his control, to release the pedal from his control and skidded to the side, tires squealing as the rubber burned and the car hit the bumper on the edge of the road with a none to gentle thud, jolting everyone to the side, Yan being flung completely into the back (Seatbelts, kids, they’re important). Cars honked at him and people flipped him the bird, but Mark was just happy to be alive, sweat dripping from his temple as he breathed shallowly, heart palpitating in his chest as he heaved in scared breaths, not even realizing he had been tearing up until he felt the salty water hit his arms as he leaned over the wheel, curling in on himself and just giving into his own sobs.

*  
Everyone was terrified, and sniffles and broken sobs littered the air. Bim open the door and launched himself out of the car, getting sick.

The Jims felt each other’s faces and smiled tearfully at each other, hugging their brother to them, laughing as they realized they were still alive before crying again.

Steeling his nerves, Mark put the car in park and turned once again to face the chaos, his phone sparking as it was in the line of fire. He grabbed it, despite it shocking him, and put it in the side of the door, away from Dark, before turning to try and figure out what the hell had happened, shaking out his locked up arm.

“Doc! What the fuck?!”

Mark knew he shouldn’t yell. He knew he shouldn’t! But he still did it.

“I honestly didn’t know he’d react like that...”

“He was uncomfortable!”

“...”

“You have to understand there are consequences here! Do you want me to die?” He looked at Yan and Google who nodded automatically, and rolled his eyes. “Okay, Yan, Goog, you’re not allowed to answer that, it’s rhetorical,” He turned his cold eyes back on the Dr and the other Iplier shrunk. “Better yet, do /you/ want to die? You’re not safe out here. You can’t regenerate. You die out here, you’re gone forever. What about the blood of those we could’ve crashed into, huh? You wanna be the bad news doctor so badly that you’ll have to explain REAL tragedies to people? Use your fucking brain! You’re the smart one!”

“Technically, that’s the androids,” Dr. Iplier mumbled.

Mark turned on the Ego, growling as he leaned even closer, straddling his seat as he glared daggers at the doctor, nails digging into the leather of his seat as he gripped it with iron fists.

“You think I give a fuck,” the Asian hissed, voice low as he tried to control himself. He wanted to strangle the doctor.

All the Egos flinched at their creator’s voice, cracking with emotion as he fought the urge to scream and sob in fear. It was very obvious he was not okay right now. His own voice was amplified by Dark’s aura, so it echoed around the van. They were scared, not only of the situation, but of him. It was becoming increasingly obvious how easily Mark could erase them from existence.

The Jim Twins gulped, holding each other a little tighter, white knuckling their shirts. The Host yanked them closer with his free arm, rocking King like a child with one and just squeezing the two others with the other.

He could hear their thoughts. They were terrified.

A few more minutes of Mark tearing into Dr. Iplier, trying to embed it in his head just how serious the situation was, went by. The Doctor Ego just took it, stone-faced as he listened.

Yan crawled back over the seats and handed Wilford what he had asked for, rubbing his head, a bit dizzy from being thrown.

Wilford scooted his seat back forward once Yan handed him what he needed, kicking the back of Dark’s seat until it folded back and he fell backward with it with a yelp, shrinking the aura a little more from shock. He threaded a white flowercrown into the Demon’s hair, almost completely glitching himself as he was enveloped in Dark’s aura, determined. Bim was enthralled and the Jims were partly freaked out, and partly entranced, still trying to stop King from freaking out. The other was crying at this point, but Host could once again narrate, and it was calming everyone else down considerably.

The Host took this time of calming down to let go of the twins and grab one of the suitcases behind him to smack the everloving shit out of Doc while he held King with one arm, feeling far too paternal for his own good, but not really caring right now.

Mark just let him, too exhausted to fight anymore, texting Amy how much he loved her, as well as putting out a tweet to complain about traffic, to cover up the fact he had almost died. He probably wouldn’t tell her or his fans what had happened.

*  
Eventually, after several minutes of just Wilford poking and prodding at Dark and saying something no one could really understand, the aura lessened until the shell was back to a normal place, the blood that had been roaring in the Demon’s ears gone as he looked around, confused, and utterly drained, his skin back to grey as his costume faded. He’d put it back on later.

The creator looked over, voice shaking as he took a breath to steady himself and calm down a little. He’d have to have a controversial talk with Dark later, but now was not the time.

“Hey, uh, Dark, bud, you alright?”

The Demon flushed in shame and hid his face and Mark patted him on the shoulder.

“How about we, um, just listen to something else? Or maybe nothing at all? I don’t know what will guarantee us actually safely making it to Florida at this point, and I’m a little scared to ask, ” the creator said brokenly, wiping his face, shaking slightly.

“I vote we fry Doc’s phone,” Red Google suggested, rubbing Oliver’s back as Green checked his chest plate to see if he had suffered any seizing since he had malfunctioning voice files. Blue was frowning, but it was clear he was relieved they were all safe.

“No, no, no need for that. Just...Delete that song.”

“Got it,” Doc said, doing just that.

Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Guys, please, at least try to get along? We still have four days on the road, possibly more if I have to keep pulling over.”

“This wasn’t so much pulling over as swerving into the side of a wall,” Bim chimed in as he poked his head back in the car from outside, brushing his teeth and spitting the residue on the side of the road before taking his seat again.

“Trimmer, Shut up,” Mark said through gritted teeth.

“Okay.”

The Jims stopped King’s crying and sighed, Host informing Mark he needed to cut the gas. This car wasn’t going anywhere until they were certain Dark wouldn’t get them killed. Mark just obeyed, turning off the car and sighing as everyone tried to calm down from the terrifying experience. 

Doc was hiding his face, flushed in shame, much like how Dark was, and Mark felt bad as he turned his seat and unbuckled himself, clambering back into the other portion of the car and going to console everyone else. He crouched near Doc and whispered to him until he eventually was looked at and acknowledged. The doctor Ego looked forlorn and Mark hugged him, sighing.

"...I only yell because I care...I don't want to lose any of you. Please, you have to understand what you all mean to me...I couldn't deal with anything bad happening to anyone, let alone you guys."

Wilford did the same to Dark, both of them speaking quietly until Dark eventually sighed and accepted he had messed up and shoved Warfstache away from, recoiling from the hug. Eh, it was progress, at least.

Mark ruffled Doc’s hair after convincing him everything was okay and crawled back into his seat after making sure King wasn’t too shaken up as well, checking Yan to see if he was injured from being flung into the back of the car (He wasn’t), setting up the middle seat over the console before inviting Wilford there, to pacify the Demon if something else went wrong.

Wilford settled into place and buckled up, grabbing the aux cord and tossing it out the window, watching it get run over.

Mark figured he kinda deserved that.

*  
Everyone went back to being quiet before the Googles turned the radio back on, searching the stations and settling on comedy, keeping the volume low as they side-eyed Doc, who wouldn’t speak, or even move. He knows he had messed up.

Mark pulled back onto the road and started driving. Dark had passed out almost as soon as Wilford had gotten him calm enough, curled in on himself, fast asleep, clearly exhausted from his break down. King was asleep as well, and The Jims eventually slept as well. The Host mumbled and a blanket fell over the three.

The Googles, after making sure they were all okay, and even reluctantly waking up the other android and checking Bing’s vitals, powered down as well.

Eventually, the only two awake were Wilford and Mark, but all was silent as Mark drove well into the afternoon.

Wilford rubbed his old friend's shoulder, messing with Dark's hair and flowercrown, face unreadable as the Ego sighed and run a hand through his hair, leaning back against his headrest. He didn't sleep the entire time Mark drove, but he emitted a sweet smelling scent and aura that warmed the other Egos up and kept them sleeping.

They slept the rest of the day, and Mark just thought as he drove, radio fading to white noise in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hurt the babies...;


	3. Night of Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After driving for hours, the Egos are waking, and so comes the challenge of finding a place to call it a night.

It was nearing dinner when Mark eventually pulled off to get gas, stretching his tired limbs and parking the car, opening the door and getting out, yawning and cracking his knuckles. He looked through the windows at his sleeping Egos, a large amount of them leaning against each other as they slept, clearly exhausted. He smiled sadly and went back to the driver door, opening it and talking quietly to Wilford.

“Hey, Warfy?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m gonna go grab everyone snacks and water and all that, can you watch the car real quick, y’know, make sure they don’t stir?”

The pinkstached man gave a mock salute and went back to scrolling through his phone.

Mark walked into the gas station and grabbed what he needed/ wanted. He’d feed them when they got to a hotel, but this should tide them over until then if they woke up before he got there.

Lost in thought, he almost walked straight into someone.

The Asian man apologized and went to walk away before he heard a surprised gasp.

The person he had almost walked into was a gas station employee who was restocking the shelves, and they were wide-eyed and awestruck.

“Aren’t you Markiplier?”

Mark bit his lip.

“Yeah.”

“Dude, you’re hours away from LA. Your flight get canceled or something?”

“Um, well, not exactly? Kinda on a trip right now,” he admitted.

“A trip? With who?”

“Just, uh, by myself.”

It wasn’t technically a lie, if you really thought about it.

“Alright. Can I um...Can I take a selfie with you?”

Mark chuckled, crouching down and the person took a picture.

“You all set to check out?”

“I think so…” Mark said, looking through his items. It was an excessive amount for just one person, but he might actually need to grab more, now that he thought about it.

The employee was a bit perplexed, but bagged his items and wished him goodbye after he had grabbed a few more items and paid for everything, balancing the bags on his arms.

“Have fun on your trip, MarkleSparkles.”

“Don’t call me that,” Mark joked, “And you have a great rest of your night. What’s your name?”

“Oh, heh, no one important, but thanks for dropping by. This shift fucking sucks.”

“At least it isn’t graveyard, right?”

“I’m here until graveyard shift starts.”

“Oh...Well, shit. Um, that kinda sucks.”

“Yup.”

*  
Mark waved goodbye and left the gas station, opening the door and setting the bags in his seat. He looked at Wilford and smiled fondly as he noticed the other was resting his head on Dark’s shoulder. The other was awake, however, which surprised him. He hadn’t even noticed until the Ego spoke.

“Trying to feed a small army?”

Mark jumped.

Dark chuckled lowly, rolling his eyes.

“I haven’t fed you all day. I figured you’re hungry and I dunno when we’ll find a hotel that will accommodate everyone. Just kinda planning, y’know?”

“You’re almost out of gas.”

“Yeah, I was gonna fill it up,” Mark confirmed.

Everyone was starting to stir now that Wilford was asleep, his aura dissipating. 

The Androids powered back on and blinked, looking around.

“Gas station.”

“We needed gas,” Mark repeated, handing Dark the bags to pass out the items to everyone else as he climbed back in the vehicle and drove to the pumps, parking and then getting out to fill up.

The Egos stirred to life, stretching and groaning as they rose from their slumber. A few were confused on how they had slept so long since a large number of Mark’s personalities suffered insomnia and night terrors.

Host realized his arms were asleep from the Jims and King having slept on them and made an amused face.

The Jims stirred and looked around, confused before stretching and shaking King awake. If the Ego had not been buckled in, he would have decked them in the face out of self-defense. Being that he was buckled up, he just flailed helplessly and his squirrel nuzzled his cheek to calm him down.

Mark closed the fuel tank and paid, hopping back into the car and waving at the sleepy Egos.

“Everyone okay?”

Dark was handing out the items to the awake personalities, raising a brow.

“Define okay.”

Mark decided to change the subject.

“Um...Hey, Googs, can you help track down a hotel? It’s gonna get dark, and I know you all slept and all, but you haven’t eaten, like, at all, and I need somewhere to eventually pass out at. Also, I think Wilford tired himself out.”

“Didn’t he fall asleep when we all did?” Dr. Iplier asked, confused as Google opened maps and used the crappy wifi from the Gas station to track down where they were right now. Their eyes were glazed as they worked, searching for places that would accommodate them.

Bing was checking reviews on places in the meantime.

“No, he only recently did so. He was awake when I headed into the building, and then was conked out when I returned,” Mark explained

“Well, that explains a lot,” Bim murmured, rubbing his eyes.

Yan woke up, looking around, panic in his eyes before he eventually settled back down.

Dark handed him water and offered a pitying look. Both he and the Yandere suffered from lucid dreaming fits that bordered on sleep paralysis. They had talked about it once after one of Mark’s walkthroughs of Yandere!Simulator.

Google closed maps after consulting each other, redirecting the information to Mark’s phone, opening it to the GPS and entering the coordinates.

“It’s not close, but we can manage,” Red Google said.

“How far is not close,” Mark asked skeptically.

“About an hour and a half.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“We can look again,” Oliver began before Blue held up a hand.

“That’s what we found, Creator.”

Mark frowned at the name.

“It’s still Mark, but, um, yeah, that works.” Mark paused from taking the car out of park. “Before we head out, does anyone have to pee?”

King unbuckled himself and dashed from the car.

“...That’s a yes, I guess?” Mark joked, laughing a little bit, shaking his head fondly.

The other Ipliers laughed a bit.

When King returned, they were back off.

They pulled off and got food on the way, because Drive-thrus employees don’t get paid enough to ask a lot of questions, especially ones like why there were almost a dozen versions of Markiplier in a car.

*  
An hour into the journey and the Egos were taking turns mocking the GPS system, all adopting ridiculous voices as they copied what it said.

“In a mile, turn right.”

Mark snorted as Bim added his own flair to the command, shaking in barey concealed laughter as the Googles and Bing just used voice clips of other people. When Bing used Beyonce, Mark broke completely, belting out in laughter, eyes tearing up as he shook and waited at a red light. Wilford stirred from the noise, raising a brow as he sat up from where he had been laying against Dark’s shoulder, scrubbing at his face.

“Why is he being a giggly bitch?”

Mark was about to object but Oliver beat him to it, playing an Ace Attorney ‘Objection!’ noise. He devolved into a giggly bitch again, actually crying from how hard he was laughing.

“Meme loving fuck,” Bing snickered.

Wilford rolled his eyes.

“In another two miles, turn left.”

Dark mimicked a Jacksepticeye that slowly glitched into Anti, messing with his voice completely, and all the Egos fucking lost it, but no one had it nearly as bad as their creator, who was wheezing.

“So, you can imitate the Irish fuck and his glitchy twin, but you can’t do my voice, huh” Wilford complained playfully.

“Why would I ever want to sound as ridiculous as you?”

“Hey! My voice is beautiful,” Warfstache said, rolling his eyes and shoving Dark, who burst into undignified fits of laughter after mimicking Wilford’s own voice.

Mark eventually pulled into their destination, having to take a few minutes to calm down.

“Alright, alright, you nerds, we’re here. Dark,” The Demon raised a brow, “ I need you, it’s time to get us all past these people.”

Dark grinned and stretched, getting out of the car with Mark and heading inside, taking his appearance again, and then his card before telling him to wait outside and doing what he needed to do.

A few minutes later, Dark came back out, waving everyone in, holding multiple hotel room keycards. 

Mark bit his lip.

“Oh, calm down, they’re enchanted. The hotel staff doesn’t even realize we’re not you. If there’s a lot of us here at once, it’ll just focus on one of us and eventually take your appearance in the blink of an eye.”

“So...Essentially-”

“We’re invisible?”

“To the human eye, yes.”

Mark reasoned with it in his head before sighing. This definitely had to be against the law.

“Alright, let's head on up.”

*  
Mark let the groups divide themselves and handed out the hotel card keys, letting them go their separate ways.

Mumbling, a bit surprised he had a room to himself, Mark plopped down on the bed and checked his media. The picture he had taken with the fan was circulating with the hashtag #MarksSecretJourney. Heh, good luck finding him.

He chanced a look at the Ego’s Twitter and Instagram, grinning a bit as their most recent goofs was uploaded. It cut out right after the Jack impression, so it wasn’t obvious who said it, but he was okay with that. Dark could live to be the broody mysterious character for another day. It also had people asking whether Sean was on this “secret journey” with him.

He’d have to apologize to Sean and Signe in the morning for getting them involved.

He continued scrolling and caught sight of a small video, looking to have been recorded pointing at the ground, resting on someone’s thigh. It was jolting all over the place, but there were voices, loud and clear. He heard his own. He heard the ice-cold anger and the venom, and he wilted as he heard Dr. Iplier try to defend himself. It was less than five seconds, yet it made his gut sink.

Fuck…

The comments were asking about a possible skit it could have come from, but a lot of people were just scared of how...angry...Mark was.

He scrolled down a little bit more and saw the picture of him hitting his head on the headrest, laughing a bit, although he didn’t feel all too joyful as he did it. He really did look like an angry parent.

*  
Sighing, the Asian got up and wandered his room. He could hear the Jim twins talking excitedly through the wall about what was on TV, as well as the other Egos just having small conversations here and there. Wow, these walls were paper thin.

He flopped back on his bed, burying his face in the pillow.

“Comfy?”

Mark shrieked as he sat back up.

Dark was sitting in a chair in the corner, looking amused.

“Dude, doors exist for a reason! What if I was naked?”

“Mark, I live in your head. You really think we haven’t all seen you naked?”

“...Fair point, but, still, I have a door for a reason!”

“Privacy doesn’t exist when you take literal elements of your brain into account, Mark.”

“...Okay, fine. What do you want?”

“To speak...Or, well, apologize…”

Mark raised a brow and Dark narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t act smug.”

“Not smug, just...Shocked.”

The Demon sighed.

“I’ve spoken with Dr. Iplier. He was a bit shaken. He’s asleep now.”

“...Please don’t tell me you manipulated him.”

“Do you want me to lie?”

“Well, no, but-”

“I almost sent him back to the manor in a casket. I don’t care if I would have had to go back too.”

Mark paused.

“What was wrong with that song that he played. It didn’t seem too bad? Kinda soothing, y’know? Waltzy?”

Dark sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

“That was Damien’s song.”

Mark bit his lip and mentally slapped himself.

There was silence before Dark continued.

“He danced to it all the time. Celine and their mother used to sing it as a lullaby. It’s actually a really hard song to find, seeing as it is very, very old, so Dr. Iplier having it means something...I just don’t know what.”

“He didn’t mean to hurt you…”

“You know, you say that a lot, but it’s losing its meaning,” the Ego said curtly.

Mark looked away, fiddling with his shirt cuff.

Dark got up, the chair creaking as he did so. He walked to the window, peering out at the city.

“I got caught in a fit of emotions, and I didn’t realize I had hurt anyone…”

“That’s just kinda how you are,” Mark said softly, his Demon side scoffing.

“And thanks to whom, I wonder?”

“I’ve already apologized…”

“I know, I know...I just…”

Mark set a hand on Dark’s shoulder and he jolted. He hadn’t realized his creator had even gotten up.

“You know, you don’t have to apologize, right?”

Dark looked puzzled, gaze incredulous.

“Everything you went through… That’s all me. Dr. Iplier using bad memories? That’s his character, a character I wrote and drafted out. You’re not at fault, Dark.”

The Demon paused, shell flickering and glitching slightly.

“I don’t want you two to go home. I really do want to spend time with you all, but you’ve gotta try to get along...You didn’t see their fear, Dark...You didn’t hear the screaming and the crying...I can’t do this again.”

Dark watched Mark before looking back out the window, numb to it, feeling drained again.

Mark sighed, going to walk away before he felt a hand on his wrist.

He looked up, confused.

“Wasn’t this meant to be a fun trip,” Dark joked with uncertainty, shell flickering a bit.

Mark cracked a smile and punched Dark in the shoulder.

*  
The two sat and talked with each other for a little longer after that.

“We should sleep. I mean, I know you slept already, but I’m fucking exhausted, dude.”

Dark chuckled and wished him goodnight before teleporting away, even though he had literally been right next to the door.

“Hey, you know, there’s this really neat thing called /DOORS/, DARK!” Mark bellowed, teasing the other.

Mark could hear Dark laugh through the wall and it started a chorus of all the Egos laughing as well. He cracked a smile, shaking his head and going to sleep.

Day one down. Three more to go.


	4. All in time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ready for the plot twist? I bet you're not

For the rest of the night, the Egos went in and out of their rooms and into each others. The ones that could teleport kept poofing into Mark’s room and rummaging through his bag before grabbing what they needed and poofing back out before he could turn on the light and see which one it was and what they had actually stolen. 

Around the fifth time it happened, Mark shined his light on the person and blinked when he saw Wilford holding a large barrel-like thing of cheese puffs. Where the fuck did he get cheese puffs? Why was it so big? Hold on- Were they going to the stores nearby?! Oooooooh fuck- They were still invisible to everyone else in the hotel, weren’t they?

Mark made to get out of bed and Wilford poofed, leaving behind his cheese puffs and a large mess of pink glitter. Before coming right back and grabbing his cheese puffs and poofing away again. The creator was choking on the overwhelming scent of candy Wilford always left behind, beating on his chest and waving his hand in front of his face as the transparent menace slowly dissipated, although it left his lungs and eyes feeling heavy.

A door slammed shut and the Asian heard feet padding down the hall, along with excited whispers.

Yup, they were, most definitely, going to the stores nearby. Jesus, that’s what Bing and Google were doing earlier? That’s why it took so long to find a place?

The man hurriedly pulled back on his jeans and searched his pockets before cursing and hitting his fist on his thigh. They had his wallet. 

Mark checked the time on his phone and groaned before checking Twitter to see where they had headed. Given that they were as smug as he figured they’d be, his first post, one he hadn’t pinned himself, was him liking their tweet.

‘Egopliers @egocentricipliers’ 1h  
@markiplier is sleeping. Time to turn tf uppppppp ;D

Mark didn’t even know who to blame as he grabbed the keys he had kept in the nightstand and exited his room, knocking to see if anyone had actually stayed in place. There was no reply. Of fucking course not.

“Markiplier, now a full-time babysitter. Jesus, can I even actually drive? Nope, the wallet had everything,” Mark muttered to himself as he headed out of the hotel, patting himself in search of any items. Nope, he just had a phone and his wits, like every basic horror survival game he had ever played. Hopefully, it wasn’t psychological horror this time.

Growling to himself, Mark left the hotel after checking all the floors, coming to the conclusion all the mischievous Egos had walked, seeing as Dark was one of the only other people on this trip who knew how to drive, and the car was still where he had left it, resting in the moonlight in an otherwise starry sky. He admired it for a short moment, mesmerized, before shaking his head and heading back on his way.

He checked his phone again and shot out a quick tweet to alert the Egos that, yes, he was very much awake, and that they weren’t slick.

‘Markiplier @markiplier’  
Guess who just woke up with only the clothes on his back and some car keys? This guy!! ‘bout to smack a bitch

He was hoping to bait at least one of them into replying, and his prayers were answered quickly enough when he got a notification from the Egos. He also got A LOT of people asking where he was, and what he was doing. There were also people fighting about whether he was cheating on Amy. Fun.

His phone dinged again and he opened it back up, looking to see what it was, although he was fairly certain he knew.

‘Egopliers @egocentricipliers’  
You better not ruin our fun!

Mark looked to see where it was posted from before sighing and heading down the streets as quickly as he could, bolting towards the grocery store down the street. He probably looked insane.

*  
Wheezing, he skidded into through the automatic doors and immediately set off towards the back of the store. He caught sight of a familiar head of floofy hair and slid gracefully (not really) into a pole.

“fUCK-!”

The Ego in question looked up at the voice and grinned before taking off running.

Mark picked himself up and took off after Bing.

Bing snapped before hopping up and then sliding forward on his heels, gliding forward as he grabbed a cart that contained the Jims and Bim and just took off skating down the aisle.

FUCKING HEELIES?!

Mark was beyond exhausted when he finally caught up with everyone. A large number were congregated in the toy aisle. Bing was shooting nerf guns and the Jims were filming, talking about the patrons, but not being mean, just observing the people still awake at this hour. They’d usually be asleep by now, but literally all the Egos were so energized, it was ridiculous.

“THE CREATOR IS HERE!”

Bing blinked before shooting him in the forehead with a nerf bullet.

It stuck to his skin and Mark recoiled before pulling it off, glaring at the annoying suction sound and mark it left behind, rubbing the reddened skin.

“Why the fuck aren’t you sleeping?”

“Okay, one, I charge, dude. Two, everyone is full of energy! Like, I’m uber OP right now, bruh! I don’t know why, but I just want to explode!”

“Please do,” Google Blue said, walking back from the electronics section with the other Googles. Oliver was covered in stickers and Mark facepalmed.

“Google, buddy, why does Oliver have a face full of bright neon stickers?”

“A child covered him in stickers.”

“And you didn’t stop it?”

“Primary objective is to answer questions and inquiries as quickly as possible. The secondary objective is to destroy humanity. The third objective was to track down my other counterparts. The fourth objective was to stare at blenders. The fifth objective was then lost in translation and I just stood in place for about an hour.”

“...Google, you alright?”

“No,” Blue answered simply before turning on heel and heading back to the hotel, Red and Green following him.

Oliver frowned and followed him as well, slowly pulling the stickers off his face.

Bing whistled and mimicked a plane crashing.

“That’s a bummer.”

“Why are you guys so awake?”

Bim peered from around the corner of the toy aisle.

“Pretty sure it has something to do with pinky madman.”

“Pinky madman…?”

“Wilford,” Bim said walking closer, pushing a toy he had been fiddling with back on the shelf, annoyed that their creator was so daft, “ He’s pink, he’s insane, it’s kinda obvious?”

“What could Wil have done that has you all jittery?”

“Mark, think about it. What are you like after you drink too much coffee?” the show host goaded.

“Overly hyperactive, but I don’t understand what Wil could’ve done?”

“Allow me, dude.” Bing searched around a bit before grinning and showing a video he had taken from their security of Wilford talking with Dark before lulling him to sleep. Bing fast-forwarded and soon Dark was waking back up and then walking around like nothing had happened. The time lapse was twenty minutes, at most.

“...Are you telling Wilford’s sleeping power is like an espresso shot?”

“Yeah, aren’t you curious how he was up and revving to go after just an hour of you driving?”

“So you’re hyper,” Mark concluded and Bing grinned.

“Yeah. Sitting in place for that hour was hell!”

“...You need to get back to the hotel room.”

“But, dude-!”

“No buts.”

“It’s so boring!”

“You’re destroying the toy section of a supercenter.”

“...I’m redecorating.”

“Bing.”

“Mark.”

The Asian man sighed.

“Please come back to the hotel.”

“But we don’t want to!”

“I’ll give you control of the channel at night!”

The Jims blinked, lowering their camera.

Bim raised a brow.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, just… I can’t keep an eye on you if you wander off like this the first chance you get.”

The four Egos looked at each other before nodding and shaking hands with their creator.

“Is that all of you in the store?”

“Host is in the book section, I think,” Bim answered.

“You let...The blind...Ego….Walk…To the store...At night?”

“Yup.”

Mark held up a finger, opening and closing his mouth a few times before just shaking his head and throwing his arms up in exasperation, wandering off to find the literary muse.

After grabbing Host and searching the rest of the store for anyone else, the Ipliers and their creator went back to the hotel, where Dark was sitting off to the side with Wilford, just talking. The two eldest Egos raised a brow and looked up as they were approached.

“Alright, so, I’ve kinda reached a compromise?”

“And that is?” Dark asked.

“In order to keep you all in the hotel, and any others in the future, since I really need to sleep for this damn trip, you have control of the channel at night. I’ll make a little playlist for you guys, and all that jazz. You can do skits and stuff.”

Dark seemed amused.

“You’re such a fucking doormat.”

Mark glared and Dark cocked a brow, lips quirked before glitching to the side to avoid something.

Wilford tossed something at his head and Mark flinched, trying to catch the item before it fell to the floor. He failed, and it flopped in front of his feet.

“Wait, you had the wallet?”

“Dark and I hit up the club down the street while you were corralling the others.” 

“Wait, what?!”

“Oh, hush, we weren’t recognized,” the Demon pacified, “We were just checking to see what the fuss was about. Wilford fistfought with someone, but that was easy enough to fix.”

“That guy’s nose wasn’t as easy to fix,” Wilford chuckled, picking at his knuckles, which Mark noticed had dried blood on them. Fucking great.

“You broke someone’s nose?!”

“They deserved it.”

“Why do I not believe you?”

Wilford shrugged, snickering a bit.

“Everyone’s a critic.”

Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Okay, I need to get you guys chipped like a dog at this point. Maybe then you’ll actually behave, and do tricks, like STAY STILL.”

“Woof,” Bim said dryly.

The Jims looked at each other before barking and Wilford clapped, amused.

Dark chuckled and their creator just deadpanned, going through his phone to see who was where.

“I think everyone is accounted for…” Mark trailed off, looking around.

Yan poofed behind Mark and he screamed.

“You were wrong.”

“FFFFFFFFFFFFFUHUHHUHUHUCKING FUCK-!”

The Egos chuckled and Mark took deep breaths as the hotel staff jumped at his screaming. A middle-aged custodian jumped and sent their garbage cart flying down the hall before running after it.

“Okay, note to self...Yan can teleport.”

The man grabbed his wallet, checking to see that everything was in it before holding it in his hand and heading back toward the room he had been occupying.

“I’m going the fuck to sleep. Have fun, don’t kill anyone. Mark out.”

*  
When he entered the elevator the Egos shared a look and then connected arms, poofing back to their own rooms before talking in hushed voices and looked over at the laptop they had set up. After making sure Mark was in his own room, and passed out, Dark and Wilford came back in the room and nodded.

The Host grinned as he sat off to the side before pulling on his headphones and snapping.

King popped up from the side, petting his squirrel as Dr. Iplier roused from where he had been “asleep.”

“Jim, Jim, is everything where it needs to be?”

“Yup.”

“We’ve got it all set up. Jim predicts there will be sunny skies, as well as a warm reception.”

Dr. Iplier stretched and groaned.

“Hey, Wilford, can you and Dark /not/ put me to sleep so you can put a plan into action next time? Or at least let me go back to the manor during it?”

“Not a fan of the void?”

“Not really.”

“That sucks for you, doctor.”

Dr. Iplier rolled his eyes.

“Don’t piss off the person who controls your shots. I could very well poison you if I really wanted to. You won’t die, obviously, but you will get sick.”

Wilford rolled his eyes before conjuring up a journal and pen, jumping up and crashing down on his butt, legs criss-crossed as he stared up at the other Ego. Dark could be heard sighing.

“Bad News doctor fights back. Could make for a nice story.”

“Are you really that easily amused?”

“Doctor, this is Wilford Warfstache we are talking about,” Bim said simply. “The man is amused by the voices in his head, and they’re his own.”

“Hey, Bim, wanna know what you taste like? I’m pretty sure your season finale could definitely draw in more views if you’re the one killed. Imagine the twist of the show host being eaten!” Wilford replied with not a trace of venom, which made it so much worse, “Or you could be shot, if you want to go out with a bang.”

Dark snorted and slapped a hand over his mouth before excusing himself from the room.

The Jims shared a look before rolling their eyes and getting back to work, setting up their cameras and positioning the furniture into a makeshift office area.

Dark came back in and observed the scene.

“So, we’ve gotten him extremely tired, have played innocent, made him guilty, and are slowly building up a...trust…” Dark grimaced at the word and walked smoothly to the window, peering out at the city. “Do you figure he suspects anything?”

“The Host informs the room that their creator is curious, but thinks he is making an impact on everyone. He sees a friend in you, Dark,” Host said simply, laughing a bit at the end of that sentence.

Dark grinned and shut the curtains, walking back to the others, who watched him carefully as he went through the pending videos on Mark’s account. They could sneak in an extra video after Mark went to sleep, if they kept his laptop away from him. He had videos piled up for about a month, which meant their trip could go on longer if they really wanted it to. Perfect.

“How about we give him a taste of his own medicine, boys?”

“Oh?” Wilford said, raising a brow as he poofed an apple into his hand just to chuck it at Bim.

“You saw what he wrote. He’s not touching Host again. He’s ‘killing off,’ “ Dark used his fingers for air quotes as he spoke, “ you and I. Our existence depends on him, whether we want it to or not.”

“And that means?” Bim asked, leaning against the wall.

“It means,” Google approached, standing beside Dark, “If we can get the videos up, and get a large number of views before he realizes it’s been put up and pulls it, we can occasionally exist on our own without the help of our ‘dearest creator,’” the android sneered.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Bing said, sighing a bit as he pulled up the statistics of the videos on a floating screen emitting from his emblem, “He’s losing interest. He doesn’t want to rekindle anything. This is a trip for views, and only views, and we were all dumb enough to fall for it.”

The room seemed shocked by how serious the natural fratboy android had become.

King bit his lip as he thought, tapping his foot and watching everyone else.

“If he...If he leaves...I’m first to go.”

Wilford blinked and peered over at where King was beginning to pace.

Bing hurriedly looked at his statistics again before sucking in a synthetic breath through his teeth.

“He’s right.”

“So what do we do?” Cameraman Jim asked quietly, voice shaking as he forced himself to steady it.

“Jim doesn’t want to die,” Weatherman Jim spoke quietly, timid smile shaking and threatening to shatter.

“You will not die,” The Host said simply before clutching at his head and growling. Sometimes he got punished for narrating things he shouldn’t. A curse, since he wasn’t allowed to be the author anymore.

“Hush, Host, you’re wasting precious breath,” Dark cooed.

“Don’t patronize me,” the muse growled.

“Not trying to patronize, old friend. I know you’re angry because of what Mark did to you as well. Hone that, use it, we need you on our side.”

Google sat at the desk and flickered through Mark’s videos, looking to see where something would have the most impact if something was posted after it. He had a good amount of horror videos, where brief appearances of Dark after hours could cause a stir. There was also a few silly ones, and he was piecing where the others could fit, gears clicking and turning as he thought. All they needed was small videos, a couple of seconds, to intrigue people.

Mark expected long videos. Long videos weren’t going to get the reaction they wanted.

They’d yield to him for now, but the time was coming.

And the Egos didn’t want to play along anymore.

*  
Daylight came and Dark had to enchant the hotel staff again as everyone checked out, grabbing a quick breakfast before fleeing the scene, popping all the suitcases back into the van before piling into it and driving off.

Mark was hesitant to let anyone play music, but eventually let them anyway. The Googles were in charge of changing anything that gave a negative reaction as quickly as possible.

Dark just texted with Wilford, both of them near the back of the van this time, the Jim Twins up front with Mark, absolutely baffled by the world going by as the vehicle drove forward, making comments about the scenery and taking pictures. Mark found it utterly precious.

Dr. Iplier was texting someone else, rolling his eyes and correcting the medical procedures for them. He had taken off work for this trip, same with Bim, and a couple other Egos.

Bing decided to dictate the tunes.

And, of course, he put on NSP. Not only NSP, but Cool Patrol.

Mark laughed the second it started playing and resisted the urge to jam along before failing miserably and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Nice song, Bingaboi.”

The Android jammed with Mark, singing along with him.

The Jims listened, scandalized, before eventually shrugging to each other and dancing along as well, bouncing up and down as they grinned.

They didn’t know the lyrics well enough to join in, though.

Bing could only feel slightly bad for corrupting them.

Yan rolled his eyes before bouncing as well.

Bim looked amused, but started bouncing as well.

Eventually, everyone was bouncing up and down, except for Dark, who refused. Wilford flicked him in the cheek for not joining them.

“COOL BREAK!” Bing called out in time with Mark and Oliver.

“ALRIGHT!” they repeated again, Yan joining in this time.

Wilford leaned extremely close to Dark and the Demon shoved him away.

The pinkstached man frowned, pouting at him, and eventually Dark sighed, relenting and saying the next lyric.

“This is cool…” 

Wilford grinned widely and Dark rolled his eyes.

King leaned over the back of the seat, staring at them before Mark called out the next lyrics, which all the Egos, including Dark and Host, chimed in for.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Mark began, grinning widely.

“LET’S KICK IT!” the Egos replied.

They ended up taking up the backing vocals as Mark belted the main tune with Bing.

When it got to the part of Jack being beaten up, they all made smacking sound effects, some more convincing than others, and Mark ended the song in a fit of laughter.

Bing and Google searched for another song and there was a comfortable silence in the car, aside from the occasional chatter from one of the Egos of what they observed, such as the cars speeding by. Jim saw a news van and was pressed against the window as he watched it drive by, squealing about how he wanted one.

“But, Jim, we can’t drive.”

“LOOK AT IT, JIM!”

Mark chuckled, rolling his eyes and patting them on the shoulder. He directed his attention back to the road, humming softly in thought.

“So, do you guys actually know the song that well for any reason other than I was actually in the video for it?”

“Mark, we have all the music you’ve ever downloaded and bought on our own phones,” Bim said, laughing a bit as he opened up his own library and scrolled through what seemed to be an endless list of music before flipping to another app on his phone and resting it in his shirt pocket, the camera poking out of the lip of it.

“They play it when we clean the house,” Wilford chimed in.

“The Jims are too new to have heard the marathon cleaning-spree playlist Googs whipped up,” Bing remarked, grinning. “I only heard it the other day.”

Mark raised a brow.

“Google likes NinjaSexParty?”

“He probably thinks Danny is hot,” Bing said.

“Negative.”

“Well, I think Danny is hot,” Bing mumbled.

Mark snorted.

“I’m learning a lot about you guys.”

“Oh, are we sharings secrets,” Host asked, a bit perplexed, but smirking. He knew what was coming next.

Wilford grinned as wide as he could before smirking as well and unbuckling himself, standing up, although he was a little crouched given that he would hit the van roof otherwise.

“Oooooh, secrets? I got one! Dark sings show tunes!”

The reply was instantaneous.

“WILFORD, SHUT UP!”

Mark snorted a bit harder. Dark was flushing with embarrassment and straightened his shirt before composing himself and yanking his old friend back into his seat.

“Buckle up, you dunce.”

“Showtunes? I can see it. Anything else?”

This released a damn FLOOD.

“Bim rehearses with a hairbrush in the mirror!”

“Yeah?! Well, Host narrates bedtime stories just so he doesn’t have to get up and actually grab the book!”

King pet his squirrel, confused. Everything he did was pretty much public. Did he actually have secrets?

“Yes, you do,” both Dark and Host answered at once.

King frowned.

The Jims were cackling and Dr. Iplier narrowed his eyes.

“What are you two laughing about?”

“Oh, nooooooothing~”

“Just that our favorite doctor miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight have a teddy-bear doctor toy set~”

“That’s nothing compared to all the shit you two goodies hide,” Dr. Iplier said simply.

The Jims raised a brow before thinking about it and then pouting.

“Okay, fine…”

“You’ve got us there.”

Yan laughed a bit.

Bim looked like he was gonna open his mouth to say something about Yan, but thought better of it when the Yandere Iplier turned on him, glowering as if daring him to try.

Mark was absolutely exploding in laughter at this point.

“O-Okay, ok-kay, enough, e-enough! I c-can’t fu-fuck-fucking breathe!”

The Egos glared at each other for spreading the information they considered sacred but eventually cracked smiles and laughed a bit themselves.

“Showtunes,” Bim asked, raising a brow.

“Using a hairbrush as a microphone?” Dark shot back, chuckling a bit.

“Okay, you gotta do what ya gotta do,” Bim defended.

“Do you seriously narrate bedtime stories so you don’t have to get out of bed?” Wilford asked, laughing a bit.

“The Host doesn’t deny it, since the accusation rings true. However, The Host also feels the need to explain that, since he sees everything, it’s much easier to read a children’s book to go to sleep than to narrate the self-love sessions the Egos partake in before bed. Although, some things are a bit...Kinky. Makes for a good story, doesn’t it, gun deepthroater?”

Wilford flushed bright pink and Mark literally started wheezing.

“WILFORD HAS A GUN KINK?!”

“You didn’t know that?” Far too many Egos replied at once as if it was common knowledge.

“No?”

“Shooties?”

“N-No, Jim.”

“But, shooties-”

Mark was crying in laughter as Wilford fumbled for an answer. It was rare to see him embarrassed, and it was hilarious. 

Wilford eventually laughed about it himself, shrugging and owning up to it, although he was still flushed as he laughed nervously. Dark patted him on the shoulder and the rest of that day’s trip faded into a gentle haze. Mark didn’t sense the anger lying underneath, but when had he ever actually known the characters he had created?


End file.
